"What is the lasting damage when you believe the warm spot you were just sleeping in will be your grave?" —Michelle McNamara, I'll be Gone in the Dark

Two Mini-Review Mondays in row? That has got to be a record. It would appear we're on a blogging roll around here. How long will it last? Nobody knows. Let's just revel in it while it's happening, shall we? Here are two of my latest reads:

True Crime

Wanna be scared to death? This book's for you. I don't dabble in this genre often, my last (and only other) foray was In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Years later, I still haven't recovered. But alas, desperate times; desperate measures. When you start a road trip on little to no sleep, you need a page-turner—one that reviewers rave will keep you on the edge of your seat. It did the trick all right. Maybe a little too well as I couldn't sleep well after arriving at my destination. Michelle McNamara's writing is a gift we all are left wanting more of. Sadly, she passed away suddenly before the book was published. I've a feeling she would have loved Stephen King's generous praise: “A brilliant genre-buster.... Propulsive, can’t-stop-now reading.”

4 Star Fiction

Okay, probably at least four and a half. We're pretty stingy with our fives around here, but bottom line: this is a very good read. Sam Hill is born with ocular albanism to parents that rival Auggie Pullman's—and he's blessed with a couple of friends as stellar as Auggie's too. It's a story of learning to see ourselves through the eyes of those who love us best and coming to realize that even the ordinary can be extraordinary. These are characters I'll long remember. I wholeheartedly recommend.